Varanasi Honours 324 Young Artists

VARANASI: Three hundred and twenty-four children received medals and certificates on Thursday at the close of a two-day sketching, painting and photography competition held at Dr Sampurnanand Sports Complex in Sigra.

Participants came from the five zones of Varanasi Municipal Corporation and from the Kashi Vidyapith, Araziline and Sevapuri development blocks. Organisers selected 132 winners in sketching, 132 in painting and 60 in photography across the event’s different themes. The broad geographic spread brought urban and rural students into the same creative programme.

Ministers Ravindra Jaiswal and Dr Dayashankar Mishra encouraged the participants during the closing ceremony. District Magistrate Satyendra Kumar also spoke informally with the children about weather and rainfall, explaining that forecasts are based on scientific assessment and can change as conditions develop. Ashutosh Pandey conducted the programme.

The unusually large number of awards suggests the competition was organised across categories and levels rather than around a single podium. That can be valuable for young participants. A first public certificate may give a child enough confidence to keep drawing or to take a camera assignment seriously, especially when arts education competes with examination pressure for time.

Sketching, painting and photography ask for different ways of seeing. A sketch depends on observation and quick decisions about line. Painting adds colour, surface and revision. Photography requires framing, timing and an understanding that an image can tell the truth only from the position the photographer chose. Presenting the three together helps students recognise that creativity is a practice, not a single school subject.

Awards are most useful when followed by feedback. Children should know what worked in their entry and what they can improve, rather than receiving only a medal. Schools can exhibit the selected work, invite local artists to conduct short workshops and preserve a digital catalogue so families outside the ceremony can see the range of themes.

Photography categories also need basic guidance on consent and dignity. Young photographers should learn not to exploit a vulnerable person for a dramatic frame, and not to publish a child’s image without appropriate permission. Visual literacy now includes understanding how pictures circulate online and how easily context can be lost.

Access remains an important question. A student with a dedicated camera or private art tuition begins with advantages over a child using a shared phone and classroom crayons. Future editions can provide equipment pools, common materials and preparatory sessions so that recognition reflects imagination and effort rather than household resources.

The Sigra event succeeded in putting hundreds of names and images into public view. Its longer legacy will depend on what happens next: whether schools display the work, whether talented children receive mentorship and whether participation grows in neighbourhoods that were underrepresented.

For one afternoon, 324 students were called winners. The better outcome would be a city in which many more children feel entitled to observe Varanasi closely, interpret it in their own style and share what they see with the confidence of an artist rather than the anxiety of a test-taker.